MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/17 Lopez, LaHair, Campy & Barney

Rodrigo Lopez hopes he’s doing enough to get a job next year. Lopez struck out a season-high seven batters over six innings, only the second time in his past 10 starts he’s lasted at least six innings, in the Cubs’ 2-1 win over the Astros on Saturday. When left fielder Alfonso Soriano caught Jimmy Paredes’ fly ball to end the Astros sixth, Lopez raised his arms touchdown-style as he came off the field.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get the win or not, but I was like, ‘OK, I made it,'” he said.

Said Houston’s Clint Barmes on Lopez: “He hit his spots, he attacked the zone and threw the ball pretty well. That’s nothing surprising out of him, but I mean he didn’t miss very many pitches over the heart of the plate and that made him pretty effective today.”

* Bryan LaHair hit a tie-breaking home run in the fourth that proved to be the game winner. He’s now hit safely in 10 of his 11 games with a plate appearance, and is 13-for-30 (.433).

“It’s part of my plan — I’m trying to get good pitches to hit and hit them hard like I’ve been doing all year,” LaHair said.

If you count the franchise-record 38 homers he hit at Triple-A Iowa, LaHair now has 40 for the season.

“When he squares it up, it’s pretty impressive,” Mike Quade said. “He’s a big strong kid. We like what we’ve seen so far, that’s for sure.”

* Tony Campana swiped his 22nd base of the year. That leads the Cubs and is the most by a Cubs player since Ryan Theriot stole 22 in 2008. It’s the most by a Cubs rookie since Ced Landrum’s 27 in 1991.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.